Mcdonaldisation of Society

By Upali Bhattacharya

Mcdonaldisation is a term which is derived from Mcdonalds, i.e the fast food restaurant. It basically means when a culture possesses the characteristics of a fast food restaurant. Mcdonalds  has spread all over the world today due to globalisation and cultural diffusion. Mcdonaldisation is a sociological term, used by George Ritzer to explain how the society has increasingly become rational. Mcdonalds has come to dominate our daily lives almost in every aspect. Mcdonaldisation also includes the four aspects of efficiency, predictability, calculability and control. Almost every sphere of life is bounded by these principles. Mcdonalds has become a way of life not just in the American society but is also eminent across the continents. Today’s society has become rationalised and runs on these four principles of Mcdonaldisation. It has influenced a wide range of undertakings of a significant portion of the world. Mcdonaldisation affects not only the restaurant business but also education, work, health care, travel, leisure politics and every other possible sphere of life.

Mcdonalds has its outlets almost everywhere, at malls, colleges, schools, airports, railway stations etc. Its increasingly becoming inexorable and there is no escape from the far reaching hands of Mcdonalds. People tend to go to a fast food restaurant as its economical, less time consuming, easily available and also doesn’t require any extra effort. In a period of extreme work pressure, going the Mcdonalds way is a lot more convenient. In a mcdonaldised society, everything is done in a predictable manner and is controlled by machines. There is no scope for creativity or innovation and people have to follow the monotonous schedule day after day without getting a break. People get so immersed in their work, that they tend to forget the purpose of their work or how it will contribute to the end result or even enjoy what they’re doing. This stage is called irrationality of rationality, when people do not seem to know why they’re doing what they’re doing. It would reach a level of stagnation, where people would be mere machines who would work on orders and they’d move from one rational institution to another and eventually lose their identity and creativity, as there will be no escape. For example- The Holocaust in Germany is the biggest example of Mcdonaldisation. It involved an effort to make mass murder routine and it had an assembly line quality about it, only the end result being death.

However, there are steps which can be taken in order to restore society to a non Mcdonaldised one. Non mcdonaldised options stress on quality over quantity and revel in the unpredictable nature of products and services, employ human labour who practice their skills with some degree of independence and freedom. Another alternative maybe to extract the best services of a mcdonaldised society without succumbing to its pleasures. Even though the lure of mcdonaldised institutions is great, people must only resort to them in unavoidable circumstances.

I am a first year college student, pursuing sociology honors in Lady Shree Ram College, Delhi University. I am a pass out from Mount Carmel School, Anand Niketan being the topper of humanities. I’m an avid reader, mostly fiction. I also like debating and have been part of various MUN sessions. Issues like politics, religion, culture, society etc are my areas of interest. Apart from reading, I also write abstract verses, listen to music mostly coldplay, billy joel and the simple plan, and also like watching tv series like castle, boston legal, the big bang theory and how i met your mother. The issues of terrorism, religion, feminism and gender also lie in my interests of reading and writing.